Visit the ceremony of Whirling Dervishes at Galata Mevlevihanesi Tunel at the end of Istiklal Caddesi. The ceramony is conducted every Sunday at 17:30. Tickets are sold in the entrance and costs 7,500,000 TL. about USD 5.35 (USD/TL.= 1,400,000).

Founded by the great philosopher and writer Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi in the 13th century, the ritual of the Mevlevi sect, known as the sema, is a serious religious ritual performed by Muslim priests in a prayer trance to Allah. Mevlevi believed that during the sema the soul was released from earthly ties, and able to freely and jubilantly commune with the divine.